Category Archives: Role Playing and War Games

Why would a game of fantasy appeal to so many? The answer is simple; you can lead a life in this fantasy world that you could not otherwise live. Example, a hopeless romantic could fall madly in love with an elven princess and chase her for years before getting her attention, and then after that

There is no formula for creating a “winning” character in Dungeons & Dragons. After all there is no real winner at the game table; uUnless you are playing in an organized play tournament, but even then, points are awarded based on the performance of the player, not the character. The point of a role-playing game

In every group of gamers in the entire world, you will find at least one that has a horror story about a game master, dungeon master, storyteller or whatever title that a person has chosen for themselves. Everything from nightmare players and scenarios, to power hungry, selfish game masters with a vengeance. I myself have

Christmas is nearing and gifts need to be purchased. For the war gamer on your Christmas list buying one of the hottest war board games this year will certainly entertain. ~Battle Cry Battle Cry is a simple yet challenging two player game. Taking less than an hour to play, players can easily play two or

Gary Gygax knew from the very beginning that he could not give the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons the attention it needed all by himself. He focused all of his attention upon these first three volumes of AD&D and codified so much information that his contribution has gone without equal. The Player’s Handbook(PHB), the Dungeon Masters

When creating a Dungeons & Dragons character, race and class are usually the first decisions that need to be made by the player. Those two decisions alone greatly define the role your character plays in an adventuring group and determines a lot of basic information about her. In fact, if you are the new player

First you have to ask what your group wants out of role-playing? This can be the most vital and often overlooked step. Make sure your group is conducive to a good gaming atmosphere. Make sure they want similar things out of the game. This said, there are a number of things I have come across

Being a female in on-line gaming communities isn’t always easy, but at least it’s amusing. Reactions to females playing role-playing games on-line have always been a varied assortment, varying from mostly shock from other non-gaming females and mostly wariness from the males. But who can blame them? On-line role-play games are, and will be for

I played Vampire – The Masquerade exactly one time. I was very lucky in that the group of guys that I played with were all old time gamers with MONDO experience. I was invited to join because my husband was in the game and it was just getting started when I got off work tending

In Betrayal at House on the Hill, the primary focus of each session is on outing and beating the traitor… or killing all the heroes, depending on your standpoint. The game doesn’t begin with a traitor, however, and to fill the space between a certain number of Omens being drawn, players primarily have to deal

In almost every game of Betrayal at House on the Hill – yes, there are a couple exceptions – there is a traitor. A player and character combo who, for any number of spooky and devious reasons, has decided to turn on their fellows and either kill them all or trap them in the House

There may be no more intriguing character in all of Dungeons and Dragons than the Spell Thief. As the name might suggest, this character class is a combination of spellcaster (more of a sorcerer than say, a cleric) and rogue. One might ask, “Why not just multi-class?” Good question, and the correct answer is, “Multi-classing

Possibly the hardest choice you have in a Dungeon and Dragons campaign is the decision of alignment. Lawful good or Chaotic evil, lawful evil or chaotic good. In life good is hard you have you sacrifice and make the right decisions even when their not clear. You may find that in Dungeons and Dragons the

Wizards and Sorcerers, Clerics and Druids, Paladins and Antipaladins, Witches and Alchemists… all of these classes are more or less radically different from one another, though they do all have one thing in common: they’re magic users. To one degree or another, they’re magic users, and when you want to play as somebody with magic,

Being a dungeon or game master in any role-playing game consists of many related duties: – Providing a story to the players – Controlling the NPCs – Making rule-based calls – Keeping everyone at the table in line In most cases this last duty won’t be too difficult to administer. Most players are at the

The house in Betrayal at House on the Hill is not a place where anybody would want to stay for a prolonged period of time. It’s filled with traps, poor architecture that can lead to a body’s doom, supernatural beasties and, worst of all, a traitor who wants everybody else dead. Is there no relief

A memorable role play character: it seems almost like a oxymoron, but it’s actually not that hard. The main thing you need to do is avoid stereotypes. Hopefully you are already aware of this. Sometimes it’s fun to base a character off someone you actually know – yourself is predictable, your best friend less so,

Any game featuring any sort of combat needs heroes and villains, and in the case of Betrayal at House on the Hill the players will, more often, wind up as the heroes. Now, you just need to do something about that pesky traitor… Heroes are, well, the heroes. The good guys who need to put

Regardless of the version of the game you’re playing, there are dozens of character classes available in Dungeons & Dragons already. It’s a prolific brand, and given the number of offshoot companies that offer similar products, most possible creations have probably already been covered. Maybe you have a different idea, however. A better idea. Or

The meat of a Betrayal at the House on the Hill game is the haunt mechanic. Without Haunts, it would just be a bunch of people running around in a vaguely haunted house for no reason at all – which would be a decent enough game, true, but not enough to satisfy. And if there’s